QuesQ

QuesQ appear to be doing their usual thing this Wonder Festival and buying a lot of garage kits to make them into more easily obtainable PVC figures. Of course, with the track records from the previous events, there's one thi...

Jun 12 //
Chris SetoFigure Name: Image Model LeneFigure Maker: QuesQRetail Price: ¥23,544Available at: AmiAmi | HobbyLink Japan | Hobby Search
There have been quite a few reviews of Ines online already, since she was the first to be released so this review will focus on Lene. There are a lot of similarities between the two and where things are relevant, we will note the differences or similarities.
But for now, lets look at the box!
The box is pretty large to cover both Lene and her Shinki armour, but the window is big enough to see everything inside the box.
There's also a window at the back so you get to see the back of the shinki as well. There are no windows on the side though, we just get some images of the completed figure.
And here's how she looks out of the box and assembled. QuesQ have done a very good job at replicating the details of the garage kit original. There are some some differences and additions, most of which don't actually make much sense. The most obvious one is the base. QuesQ has provided the kit with a circular black disk for the base and some hooks on the feet. Ines has a white disk which is pretty much identical. The thing is... they are unnecessary. The shinki stands very well on its own. The sword may benefit from the uneven surface and not slip, but it's perfectly capable of standing on its own.
Taking a closer look at Lene herself, The paintjob on her is clean and tidy. The only oddity is that the parts around the hip are raised and the sections where the parts connect are shaded in such a way that it's difficult to tell if the parts are separate or molded as part of the body. It's not something you notice on general inspection, and it doesn't really detract from the figure as a whole, but it's just a minor niggle which bothered me a little.
And here's how the Shinki armour looks like on its own. Note that there is no base in this photo, just to show its stability. In a sense, the shinki is almost a separate figure rather an accessory. It actually takes up more space than Lene herself. As for the Ines figure, the Black shinki is almost identical, save for the arms being swapped over so the sword rests with the right hand instead of left, as well as one other slight alteration for the figure.
Unlike the black armour for Ines, there's a peg in the right leg of the white shinki armour to hold Lene in place. It's a nice addition, and it does help, but again, it's not actually necessary. Lene is able to stand in place on her own.
As a result, Lene is able to stand with the black shinki for Ines, but due to the peg on the white shinki, Ines is not able to do the same. At least not properly.
Instead of putting the foot in the area where its meant to go and provides a stable footing, the peg forces you to balance the foot of Ines on the peg itself. Still, you can get Ines to pose on her sister's shinki... Just about.
Despite the two shinki sharing so much in terms of design, the little differences make little things like swapping the shinki armours between the two far harder than they should be.
On closer inspection of the shinki armour, the details really shine. There were some liberties taken with the overall design as the original Busou Shinki figures didn't have the leg armours connected to the main body like these figures do. The clear parts are also held in place with small pegs, but they have a tendancy to slip off. A minor annoyance, but they can be put back in with ease.
Sadly, the wings on the skirt are fixed and don't expand. A bit of a missed trick there.
And here's how the image model Lene compares to the Busou Shinki original. One thing to note is that the image model Lene lacks the obvious metal joints on the shoulders and knees. Even the Busou Shinki anime kept them in the anime designs, but the image model figures did away with them. Not sure if the change is for the better but it would have been interesting to see how the figure would have turned out if they kept closer to the original Busou Shinki design, joints and all.
Overall, the figure provides a strong case for purchase. It's well sculpted, highly detailed and has a rather catching pose. The only problem is the brick wall which you slam into just as you hit the "buy" button, the price!! Let's not beat around the bush here, ¥24,000 is an incredibly high price to pay for a figure, and these figures aren't even that large. Standing around 24cm, it would usually occupy the 1/7 scale bracket, but since this is Busou Shinki we're talking about, these are actually larger than the source material. In any case, very few PVC figures break the ¥20k barrier, and those tend to be of the 1/4 scale variety.
Are these Busou Shinki ladies good? Heck yes! Are they very good?? Yes to that too!! Are they ¥24,000 good? No.
Putting things into perspective, these releases from QuesQ are MORE expensive than the original garage kits when they were on sale from Grizzry Panda! Maybe it was due to Konami licensing costs. Perhaps you could argue that the shinki armours are large enough to be called a separate figure (hah!) or maybe it was something else entirely, but that doesn't change the fact that these ladies are prohibitively expensive. Even though they are great figures, they don't quite justify the price tag which have been slapped on them -And the only changes made are the provisioning of a base for each figure, and a peg to keep Lene stable, neither of which are actually necessary!
If they were priced better, these two would be instant recommendations but as they are, only the most die-hard fans would probably want to get them as the price of entry is just too high.
Perhaps they will find their way to the bargain bin later on, but given the very limited nature of QuesQ releases, I doubt we will see reductions in price for these ladies anytime soon and once they are gone, they will be gone for good!
If you decide to take the plunge, I doubt you will be disappointed in your purchase, but steel yourself for the dent they will put on your wallet!

Install DreamIt wasn't too long ago that many collectors would look at the dealer booth section of events like Wonder Festival to look at the works of the garage kit makes and just admire and think, "I wish that was a PVC figure..."
Well,...

Kantai Collection fans, your ship has come in from Ques Q, and we perhaps mean that literally. They brough enough KanColle PVC with them to sink a small fleet: Kitakami, Yukikaze, Tatsuta, Tenryuu, Kongou, Kirishima, Kit...

A cavalcade of cutiesQuesQ's Summer WonFes display featured painted and unpainted prototypes of characters from Kancolle, Touhou Project, Busou Shinki, and more (which, in this instance, means I can't ID the other franchises).
The selection included a really neat unpainted Remilia Scarlet (see header) and cute painted Flandre Scarlet.
Be sure to check out the gallery for all of those characters I couldn't ID.

If you're a Kantai Collection fan you're probably feeling pretty good right about now and maybe a little overwhelmed by all of the new figures coming out. The series is quickly turning into the next Hatsune Miku or K-ON! and ...

Why the long face?Although it's been off our screens for a bit, Attack On Titan continues to be the hottest thing in the figure world, with almost every company cranking out merchandise at a furious rate. Given the vast amount of stuff out the...

Feb 06 //
Jeremy Emerje Crocker
Kotobukiya has posted a gallery for their latest Shining figure, Neris, on their blog. She's a great looking figure and available now for pre-order so go find yourself one.
Orchid seed isn't only offering their special chrome bikini version of Sonico at Wonder Festival that we talked about last week. They've also got a special clear A5 file of the Sorceress from Dragons Crown, Panty & Stocking with Garterbelt trading cards, and Seven Deadly Sins bath salts.
Vertex will be offering this very special and very limited version of Noel Vermillion at Wonder Festival. The yellow repaint is limited to only 50 and sold at 8,800 each, the same prices as the regular version.
Grizzry Panda will be showing off their latest garage kit, Kongou from Kantai Collection at Wonder Festival. It doesn't seem like she'll be up for sale, but they will be bringing many of their more popular kits from previous events back for sale.
RocketNews24 reported on another Licca-chan doll crossover, this time with Kumamoto city mascot Kumamon. She's sporting a cute red and black dress with bear ears and comes with a little Kumamon. The real surprise is that she went up for sale exclusively at Takara Tomy Mall on February 1 and has already sold out.
Toy As Object is reporting on this really cool and unconventional Crystal-Mecha by Super7 and artist Matt Allison. It's already been released in black with an orange crystal, it is now available for US$95 in red with a translucent blue crystal stand nine inches at the Super7 store.
Hot Toys posted an interview with acclaimed anime director, character designer, and mecha artist Shinji Aramaki. They talk about his latest movie, the 3D CG take on Captain Harlock and the figure HT made for it.
AmiAmi blog posted a gallery for Megahouse's G.E.M Series Sasuke Uchiha figure. They did a great job with posing on this figure and he even comes with special head parts so you can swap his eyes between regular, Sharingan, and Mangekyo Sharingan.
Also at the same link is the latest Naruto additions to the Petit Chara Land series. The series features Naruto (Kurama Mode with baby Kurama), Sasuke (with Aoda), Orochimaru (with Manda), Hashirama Senju (with, uh, trees), Madara (with hypnotized Kurama) and ANBU Kakashi (with Bull). Cute figures, wouldn't know they were at war.
Traditionally Bandai doesn't do Wonder Festival, choosing to handle their own events. That went out the window last year when we got our first look at D-Arts Sailor Moon at Wonder Festival 2013 [Summer]. This year Tamashii Nations will be representing Bandai and bringing along a bunch of their newest figures as well as some we've never seen before. We should be getting our first look at new figures from Infinite Stratos and Tiger & Bunny plus some others they haven't revealed the source for yet.
quesQ will be at Wonder Festival with a number of new limited edition repaints for sale. Up for grabs will be Flandre Scarlet in pink and Kazami Yuuka in blue from Touhou Project, Elizabeth in black and pink from Persona 4: Arena, and Percival in red from Eiyuu Senki Gold. Of course they've got other things planned to debut at the event.
The Japanese AmiAmi blog posted a gallery for Prince of Tennis' Shiraishi Kuranosuke from the ARTFX J line by Kotobukiya. Fans of the series will probably find very little to complain about here.
Kahotan posted a gallery for Parfom Aigis which includes a very informative interview with Phat! Company's Ootani. There's also a new look Parfom Nozomi Hoshino which acted like the prototype for the series and will make an appearance at Wonder Festival this weekend.
Primal Heart updated with a look at their latest Saber garage kit from Fate/EXTRA CCC. The kit features Saber in a tiny nightgown and they really captured her well!
Artist Amanda Visell made this really cute 8 inch Wood Jackalope Dunny. It's available for US$400 at the Switcheroo shop. I thought the jack in jackalope stood for jackrabbit, but I guess it stands for lumberjack.
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Universes collide when Filmation Skeletor voice actor Alan Oppenheimer and 200X Skeletor voice Brian Dobson come together to play with Skeletor figures for this promo video for Power-Con. Man, Alan can still do the voice perfectly!
Aniplex is working on another Homura figure for Puella Magi Madoka Magica. Like most things these days this one is movie based and the figure title translates to something like Flame Time Regression ver. Should be really nice when it gets a limited release in September on at the Aniplex+ store.
Need another reason to get Attack on Titan figma Armin this weekend? Try Akiba Hobby's advance gallery out and see if that convinces you.
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Friends of Tomopop Jesse DeStasio, Nicholas Fung, and Cade Hiser have joined forces to host a new weekly toy show on YouTube called ToyPizza. Every Tuesday they'll be talking about great toys for all ages past and present, doing outings, and just talking about the stuff we all love. The first vid is just over four minutes long so it's easy to jump in and watch. What have you got to lose?
And that's it for this week. Not sure what we'll have to talk about next week with Wonder Festival over, but I'll be back again nextweek with another Tomopop LinkUP nonetheless!

We're in the final days before Wonder Festival 2014 [Winter]!Hello and welcome back to a very busy Tomopop LinkUP! I suppose that title is worthy of a little explanation. You see, back in the heyday of anime fansubs there was a number of speed subbers that were notorious for their nons...

More shots from Miyazawa Model ExpoAttack on Titan's Mikasa was on pace to be one of my favorite female characters of the year... but then the show just kind of stopped building her up. Even so, there's no denying that she's a talented titan killer, which brin...

Miyazawa Model Expo: Autumn is in full swing, and we're seeing some great stuff coming out of there. Check out the gallery for a shot of Mikasa Ackerman, who is getting a scaled figure by quesQ. She's an unpainted prototype for now, but looking pretty solid.
Mikasa is slated for release in June of next year, for now.
[via Hobby Search]

Yesterday, quesQ updated their page with a release notice for the lovely Halloween figures of Touhou Project's Remilia and Flandre. Emily wrote up their pre-orders back in March, and I am pleased to note that these figures ar...

We've already seen that the ladies of Gargantia on the Vedurous Planet will be receiving the Beach Queens treatment but now Ques Q have announced the first non-swimwear figure from the show. Well actually, that migh...

Griffon Enterprises isn't the only company in town that produces figures from the insanely popular Touhou Project. Though not producing at the rate and quality that Griffon does, quesQ is there as an alternative to figures fr...

The world keeps turning even though most of us are paying attention to the big event at San Diego, so here's a quick post on last night's pre-order highlights!
Wave added two Beach Queens figures to their arsenal, Muginami fr...

Up on QuesQ's blog, the Japanese figure company has posted a photo of a prototype figure. But not just any prototype figure; it's Touhou's Yuyuko Saigyouji, ghost princess of Hakugyokurou in the Touhou universe. The...

It's all about Griffon Enterprises plus one for today's Reserve or Regret. Of course there's more Touhou Project from this company. Why would there not be? Griffon will be releasing the 1/8-scale saint Toyosatomimi no Miko (t...

We've snuck a peek from Miyazawa Model Exhibition 2012 Spring, and now QuesQ is almost ready to deploy its arsenal of Nanoha love. Admittedly, they're not the first figure maker to throw the loli Nanoha in a swimsuit, but bet...

ZORKOkay, what on earth happened to Tomopop? Why is it so desolate nowadays?2-DAfter one year of collecting minus a Castle Crasher figure and amiibos. Desperately trying to cut back but just seen a cheap Tifa figure on eBay.....Cornelius RoyIf you're an Avatar fans and noticed Chief Beifong figure on SDCC, the dream lives on.
http://zwyerind.com/ there's a banner labelled coming soon...Jeremy Emerje CrockerWeekly top sales are on an indefinite hiatus. My source, Toynes.jp, abruptly stopped making regular postings including rankings. I'll resume whenever they do. :(Niero GonzalezTesting Quickposts! You can now use Tomopop like Twitter